Boutique Doctors
October 31, 2005
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Nurse Rap
October 30, 2005
Too good/funny, see “UAB Nurses Rap!”, at GruntDoc.
Wal-More
October 28, 2005
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Wal-Mart & Assymetrical Healthcare
October 27, 2005
Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs | NYT | 10.26.05
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An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart’s board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer’s reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time worker…
Memo in (PDF)
Supplemental Benefits Documentation (PDF) | Wal-Mart Board of Directors Retreat | FY06
RISKS
The risks associated with these changes are worth carefully noting. Addressing them will require, among other things, attention to implementation planning, communication, and execution.
Cost risk. If costs saving initiatives are not properly sequenced with those that require investments, costs could increase before they decrease.
Associate satisfaction risk. Some of the proposed revisions to the benefits strategy (e.g., the move to consumer-driven health plans, the changes in the retirement program) have the potential to upset Associates, especially more tenured Associates.
Public reputation risk. Healthcare enrollment will fall several percentage points due primarily to a shift to more part-time Associates, which could draw additional attacks from Wal-Mart’s critics. Also, despite the proposed efforts, the Medicaid problem will not be “solved.” A significant number of Associates and their children will still qualify for Medicaid. Because many of these programs will offer more generous health insurance than Wal-Mart provides, many Associates will still choose to enroll in Medicaid, leaving the door open for continued attacks.
The team believes that the advantages of the proposed strategy outweigh these risks.
TANSTAAFL. A penney saved at a Big Box Mart may cost significantly more due to the asymmetrical healthcare policy—and reverse cream–skimming. But then JibJab says it much better—see their Big Box Mart.
Wal-Mart; Docs-in-the-Box; Docs Leaving
October 27, 2005
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GoogleBase; Interpretors
October 26, 2005
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Portmanteau Vingle
October 25, 2005
Apple’s portmanteau vingle trumping the Urban Dictionary’s vingle via SM TM and ®.
Urban Dictionary’s Vingle
Virtual + Mingle = Vingle.
Online mingling, whether it be via IM, audio or video chat.
- nerd1: What’d you do last night?
- nerd2: You know, just vingled a little.
Apple’s Vingle
Video + Single = Vingle
via USPTO:
Serial Number: 78728939
Filing Date: October 7, 2005
Type of Mark: TRADEMARK
Word Mark: VINGLEGoods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computers; computer hardware; computer peripherals; hand held computers; computer terminals; personal digital assistants; electronic organizers; electronic notepads; apparatus for recording, transmission and reproduction of sounds, images, or other data; portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing audio, video and still images files; magnetic data carriers; mobile digital electronic devices; telephones; computer gaming machines; monitors, displays, keyboards, cables, modems, printers, videophones, disk drives; cameras; computer software; computer software for use in authoring, downloading, transmitting, receiving, editing, extracting, encoding, decoding, playing, storing and organizing audio, video and still images; computer software for DVD authoring; prerecorded computer programs for personal information management; database management software; computer programs for accessing, browsing and searching online databases; blank computer and consumer electronic storage media; computer and electronic games; user manuals sold as a unit with the aforementioned goods
Serial Number: 78728964
Filing Date: October 7, 2005
Type of Mark: SERVICE MARK
Word Mark: VINGLEGoods and Services IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Retail store services in the field of entertainment, namely, musical, audio and audiovisual works and related merchandise, provided via the internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; data storage and retrieval services; computerized data storage services; electronic storage and retrieval of documents, data, images, audio, video and audiovisual works; information, advisory and consultancy services relating to all the aforesaid.
Serial Number: 78728980
Filing Date: October 7, 2005
Type of Mark: SERVICE MARK
Word Mark: VINGLEGoods and Services IC 038. US 100 101 104. G & S: Telecommunication services, namely, electronic transmission of streamed and downloadable audio and video files via computer and other communications networks; providing on-line chat rooms, bulletin boards and community forums for the transmission of messages among computer users concerning entertainment, music, concerts, videos, radio, television, film, news, sports, games and cultural events; web casting services; delivery of messages by electronic transmission; provision of connectivity services and access to electronic communications networks, for transmission or reception of audio, video or multimedia content;
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Education; providing of training; entertainment; sporting and cultural activities; providing on-line facilities, via a global computer network, to enable users to program audio, video, text and other multimedia content, including music, concerts, videos, radio, television, news, sports, games, cultural events, and entertainment-related programs
IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: providing search engines for obtaining data via communications and computer networks; providing temporary use of on-line non-downloadable software to enable users to program audio, video, text and other multimedia content, including music, concerts, videos, radio, television, news, sports, games, cultural events, and entertainment-related programs; internet services, namely, creating indexes of information, sites and other resources available on communications and computer networks for others; searching, browsing and retrieving information, sites, and other resources available on communications and computer networks for others.
Time to board the disruption…
AOL/Google/Yahoo; Malpractice; Web; Web2.0
October 24, 2005
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Apple
October 24, 2005
How Apple Does It | Time | 10.16.05
Conventional wisdom says its strategy is wrong, yet it keeps turning out great products.
This is partly a story about a company called Apple Computer. It’s also partly a story about a fancy new iPod that plays videos as well as music and that could dramatically change the way people entertain themselves. But it’s mostly a story about new things and where they come from, about which there are a few popular misconceptions.
…
The new iPod’s potential is so huge, it inspires even Jobs to a burst of understatement. “There is no market today for portable video,” he says. “We’re going to sell millions of these to people who want to play their music, and video is going to come along for the ride. Anyone who wants to put out video content will put it out for this. And we’ll find out what happens.” Yes, we will. We’re all coming along for the ride, and we all know who’s going to be driving.
What next? What happens when TiVo learns to podcast? Traditional media will be next to be podcasted…newspapers, magazines, books, recipes, etc. I’m waiting for professional journals…what we are seeing is the freeing of content and presentation from the rigidity of traditional media delivery—highly disruptive.
This needs to be added here:
Gesundheit
October 24, 2005
Media Bias and Technology Reporting | PC Magazine | 10.17.05
As big and as important as Microsoft is, the coverage of the company is quite mediocre. This is particularly true in the mainstream press. The reason for this is that today’s newspaper and magazine tech writers know little about computers and are all Mac users. It’s a fact.
This is why when Microsoft actually does have a good idea, people look to trash it out of hand. With 90 percent of the mainstream writers being Mac users…[e]very time Steve Jobs sneezes there is a collective chorus of “Gesundheit” from tech writers pounding away on their Macs.
…
Probably the smartest thing Microsoft
could ever have doneever did was copy as much of the Mac OS as it could insofar as look and feel were concerned….Microsoft should make some headway with this biased crowd once the fanciful Xbox 360 arrives. It’s got a creative GUI, is easy to use and navigate, and kind of has a Mac look to it. It also interfaces perfectly with the iPod. “Oh golly gee whiz wow!” And that feature alone will be the clincher.
John Dvorak’s Latest Pot-Stirrings | Bayosphere | 10.22.05
Of course it’s not a fact at all. But it’s a diverting claim, as are the rest of the over-the-top statements in his piece.
This says it all “writers know little about computers and are all Mac users.” Well isn’t that the point—it should all be about content and presentation and not about the device that renders. If Bill Gates walked in Henry Ford’s shoes we would all still have barns… The fact that you have to “know…computers” speaks volumes about the mediocry of the Windows/PC paradyme. The irony in the very old Microsoft/Apple debate is that the inane complexities of use and brillant marketing of Microsoft will be eventually trumped by the simplicity and brillance of Apple “on the desktop” and Google and Yahoo “off the desktop.” Of course this pot-stirring occurred in a Windows box…